The humanitarian imperative in the face of exploding needs and the need for transformation

An elderly couple in Jytomyr, west of Kyiv, Ukraine. A Russian rocket demolished a civilian building near a military school. A hospital is also nearby. Photo taken on March 14, 2022 © T. The 2020s began with a pandemic that hit hard and everywhere, causing economic instability, disrupting markets and increasing poverty. The combination of these disruptions, the consequences of new or long-running conflicts, and the climate crisis, is exacerbating global humanitarian needs.

Children, especially girls, are still deprived of an education, women’s rights are still being violated, famines threaten. Violations of the rights of migrants and refugees are reaching unprecedented levels. Lives are in danger, and decades of development are being called into question. The temptation to paralyze in the face of these challenges is greater than ever: the rules imposed by terrorist risk management, the procrastination of certain major powers both in terms of diplomacy and humanitarian support, and the problems of access due to the administrative constraints imposed on our organizations are weighing more and more heavily on our activities. However, the 2020s also herald a decade in which the humanitarian community remains mobilized, always ready in the face of adversity and in all circumstances to surpass itself by showing what can be achieved when the international community unites.

February 08, 2023, Hatay, Turkey. Emergency search and rescue teams search through the rubble of destroyed buildings in Hatay, Antakya, Turkey, following the earthquakes © T. Nicholson / HI

The challenges are more and more numerous. And new theaters of operation have emerged. Notably in Ukraine, where, from February 2022 onwards, the war caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people[1], complicated the delivery of food and energy supplies, destroyed hospitals, schools and homes, and triggered one of the worst displacement crises in three quarters of a century. It has also caused major destabilization: rising prices, availability of oil, gas and wheat, and upheaval of the world’s geopolitical balance.

More recently, in April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan, where 2.5 million people fled to safer areas inside and outside the country[2]; before the crisis, Sudan already had almost 4 million displaced people[3]. Afghanistan is on the brink of collapse, with women’s and girls’ rights violated and over 25 million people dependent on the mobilization of humanitarian actors[4]. In the Horn of Africa, millions of people require nutritional treatment, food aid, emergency health care and essential supplies. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the conflict continues to wreak havoc, humanitarian actors are providing essential aid to 5 million people[5]. In Myanmar, the humanitarian situation is reaching unimaginable proportions due to growing conflict and insecurity. In Yemen, as the impact of war continues to destroy lives, NGOs are supporting some ten million people every month. In Haiti, rising violence, galloping inflation and a cholera epidemic have drastically increased needs. In Lebanon, the financial collapse has caused needs to soar.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Kasai Central Province. A member of an NGO speaks into a megaphone in front of a group of beneficiaries waiting for an organized distribution © John Wessels/HI

At the same time, the climate crisis is making survival even more difficult for many people. In 2020, extreme weather events deprived millions of people of access to means of subsistence. And these food crises in turn generate violence. In 2021, climate change has joined conflict as the leading cause of famine, as witnessed by the drought in Madagascar. The Horn of Africa suffered its fifth consecutive shortened rainy season. Massive flooding has submerged entire villages and crops in Nigeria and Pakistan.

From 125 million in 2016, the number of people in need in 2023 will rise to 339 million[6]; one in every 23 people on the planet needs emergency aid to survive.

Significant steps are being taken collectively to strengthen regionalized responses: local and national players, civil society and citizens are now increasingly placed at the heart of the humanitarian response system. Particularly since the beginning of the decade, NGOs have been able to develop their teams’ capacity and their working methods based on power dynamics, while recognizing a generational change. Their response tools have been adapted to the circumstances – longer conflicts, more difficult to resolve – sometimes questioning their positions on weapons, sanctions and the value of negotiations. Beyond major crises, they have been careful to keep the spotlight on extreme conflicts, such as Ethiopia, and on those such as Myanmar or Yemen, where international interest has waned. They have strengthened coordination between them, breaking down silos, particularly at senior levels of humanitarian organizations, human rights organizations, think tanks and other organizations, to better coordinate their actions in times of crisis.

The results achieved by national and international aid workers are a credit to the determination and capacity of the NGOs and donors who support them.

Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management visits the European Humanitarian Response Capability warehouse in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. He is pictured here with Manuel Patrouillard, HI Managing Director, and Jean Pierre Delomier, Deputy Director of Operations. European Union, 2022 Photographer Ramin Mazur

Unfortunately, funding remains well below requirements. For example, to provide a lifeline to 230 million of the most vulnerable people in 69 countries, the financial requirement was estimated at $51.5 billion[7]… Yet only half of this sum has been received. This incomplete funding has, however, already enabled humanitarian actors to reach 145 million people, to practice responses underpinned by humanitarian negotiations aimed at accessing people in need in many parts of the world.

March 09, 2022, Przemysl, Poland: people cross the Medyka border crossing between Ukraine and Poland. More than 2 million people have left Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022 © T. Nicholson/HI

In many respects, the outlook is uncertain. Not since the emergence of the French Doctors has humanitarian action – founded on the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence – come under so many constraints. The collapse of a world order based on values promoted as universal has led to an explosion in needs and a reduction in humanitarian access. The administrative processes to which NGOs are subject lock them into the responsibilities of the state. To preserve humanitarian space, we need to limit normative hyperinflation, particularly that linked to counter-terrorism measures, which unreasonably restricts NGOs’ ability to act. Better protection of civilians and humanitarian and health workers in crisis situations must be ensured. Every effort must be made to ensure that humanitarian action responds and adapts better to the climate crisis.

We mustn’t let ourselves be driven by bureaucratic locomotives; let’s not forget the original rebellion that made our organizations what they are today, let’s keep fighting because results can be achieved and early action can help mitigate the consequences of climate change, among other things. Humanitarian organizations also take steps to prioritize equity, inclusion and access to information for affected communities. They must work tirelessly to protect the most vulnerable from sexual exploitation and abuse. We must all continue to advocate for the full and equal participation of women and girls at all levels of education, the economy and public life. Even if humanitarian needs continue to grow, let’s resist the temptation to think that humanitarian action is pointless; we are collectively capable of making the necessary efforts to provide an adapted response that meets the needs!

ONG de solidarité internationale | Handicap International France (handicap-international.fr)

Jean-Pierre Delomier

Handicap International Federation – Humanity & Inclusion,

Deputy Director of Operations

After working in the field for various international organizations, he co-founded and directed the NGO Atlas Logistique in 1992, until its merger with Handicap International in 2006. He then joined the Management Committee and took charge of the Humanitarian Action Department, to ensure the association’s ability to intervene in major humanitarian crises, contributing to the organization of relief efforts while providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities. He has been a director of Bioforce for 15 years, he is leader of Coordination Sud’s Humanitarian Commissionand board member of VOICE in Brussels. Since January 2019, he has been HI’s Deputy Director of Operations, in charge of influencing and representing the organization to stakeholders, as well as leading the Atlas technical-operational unit.

[1] AFP and Euractiv France (2023, 14 february) : the appalling toll of a year of war in Ukraine, www.euractiv.fr https://www.euractiv.fr/section/international/news/leffroyable-bilan-dune-annee-de-guerre-en-ukraine/

[2] UN Sudan: difficulties in delivering aid as conflict escalates.(2023, 27 june), ONU Info https://news.un.org/fr/story/2023/06/1136492

[3] UN : UNHCR, P. L. P. (2023, 14 june), 5 things to know about the Sudan Crisis, HCR https://www.unhcr.org/fr/actualites/articles-et-reportages/5-choses-savoir-sur-la-crise-au-soudan

[4] European Council : https://www.consilium.europa.eu/fr/policies/afghanistan-eu-response/

[5] UN : OCHA 10 millions of people targeted by humanitarian aid in DRC in 2023 (2023, 23 february), ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/10-millions-de-personnes-ciblees-par-lassistance-humanitaire-en-republique-democratique-du-congo-en-2023

[6] UN : For the 339 million: UN General Assembly adopts resolutions on humanitarian aid and declares 2023 “international year of dialogue as a guarantee of peace”. | UN Press. https://press.un.org/fr/2022/ag12477.doc.htm

For the 125 million: UN World Summit on Humanitarian Action, https://www.un.org/fr/conf/whs/about.shtml

[7] UN : UN launches record $ 51.5 billion humanitarian appeal for 2023 [EN/AR/ES/FR/RU/ZH], World (2022, 1 décembre), ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/un-launches-record-515-billion-humanitarian-appeal-2023-enaresfrruzh

Humanitarian chronicles: Dakar Forum, Jean-Yves Le Drian and humanitarian aid, the future of Mali

Where is Mali going?

It is difficult to say. However, experience teaches us that any major political and/or military breakdown has consequences for the population and consequently for humanitarian aid and its actors, who are often on the front line in the field!

Beneficiaries in Kidal, Mali ©Solidarités International

The institutional future seems very uncertain because it is difficult to see how the Transition could keep to the timetable of reforms and elections announced in just nine months. Elections will only make sense in time if the necessary reforms are carried out.

On the other hand, there is a little music that we hear from the financial institutions that support the country and its government. They doubt the effectiveness of the aid and as Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, says, the time for blank cheques is over. International aid must benefit the Malian population everywhere in the country, right down to the furthest village from Bamako!

Although the future is uncertain, we can share a common conviction: whatever the events, humanitarian aid is more than ever essential for populations in danger in a general context that continues to deteriorate. And it is not forbidden to hope either.

Dakar Forum

Kick-off meeting in preparation for the 9th World Water Forum, spring 2019 ©WorldWaterForum

The 9th World Water Forum will take place in Dakar in March 2022. The stakes are high. For Senegal, it must be a breakthrough forum dedicated to concrete solutions that meet the needs of the population! Will it really be one?

What is surprising is that if the Forum is global, it is the first to be held in sub-Saharan Africa, the continent where the lack of drinking water and sanitation is the most serious, with the most serious consequences in terms of infant mortality due to water-borne diseases, pollution, depletion of the resource, water stress and the hindrance of development. This is why it is a humanitarian emergency.

And we can no longer pretend that we are going to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals voted by 193 countries at the UN in 2015, and in particular Goal 6 on universal access to drinking water, by 2030. We know that the trajectory is not the right one and, what’s more, the Covid-19 crisis does not help matters and risks bringing development in Africa to a halt if the aid, estimated at 300 billion dollars by the IMF, is not mobilised and implemented.

Dakar is the starting point for the UN Water Conference, which will take place in March 2023 in New York.

Fortunately, the advantage of the Dakar Forum is that the following year an inter-state conference on water will be held at the United Nations in New York in March 2023. This conference, extremely rare in the international agenda, will be the moment when real decisions should be taken. It is up to the Dakar Forum to inspire and stimulate this Conference of States so that it is equal to the global stakes involved with water and so that it finally has a permanent instrument for steering and monitoring the objectives (SDGs).

United Nations General Assembly, September 2020

Among the dangers that threaten the Dakar Forum in this role of strategic prescriber, I see a few to be avoided. Given the number of participants and themes, there is a double contradictory risk to be avoided.

The first would be to dilute the messages and analyses in an avalanche of proposals, and the second would be to be too general and not specific enough on the many issues on the agenda. For this reason, we have a central theme for this Forum, that of water security for peace and development, broken down into 4 areas: water security and sanitation, water for rural development, cooperation and tools and means.

It is therefore up to us to prioritise and concentrate a limited number of main political messages in order to address them to the Summit of Heads of State present and to the United Nations, while at the same time developing a set of specific concrete projects corresponding to the 25 working groups preparing the Forum.

And above all, in addition to the Heads of State, ministers and government agencies, local authorities, companies, international institutions and NGOs, we have the greatest need of representatives of the populations and local actors to be in the reality of concrete solutions.

We will participate in the Dakar Forum in this spirit and with these objectives with Solidarités International, the French Water Partnership and all our partners, particularly in Africa.

Jean Yves Le Drian and the humanitarian sector.

At the 5th National Humanitarian Conference on 17 December 2020 in Paris, following lengthy preparation with the Elysée, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and its Crisis and Support Centre and humanitarian NGOs in France, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, made several important humanitarian commitments.

Six months later, at a meeting of the Humanitarian Coordination Group (HCG) on 25 June, the Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, informed humanitarian NGOs of the progress of his commitments. These are of interest to humanitarians beyond French territory, as some of these decisions will have implications within the European Union and the United Nations and eventually, as we hope, at international level.

According to Jean-Yves Le Drian, international solidarity is more necessary and more threatened than ever. And to use his phrase, international life is being brutalised.

Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at the podium of the 4th CNH on 22 May 2018.

It is in this context that he confirmed that France would indeed reach its objective of 0.55% of its GNI in 2022 devoted to official development assistance, with a trajectory enshrined in the law of reaching 0.7% thereafter. Similarly, the humanitarian aid budget will reach 500 million euros next year.

Faced with the growing difficulties of bank transfers for NGOs due to anti-terrorist laws, the Minister announced easier bank access “where necessary” and mentioned a forthcoming experiment within the diplomatic network. But, according to humanitarian NGOs, the “OBC mechanism” set up in this regard was very recent and will take time. And the “provision mechanism” instituted by the Quai d’Orsay, while it demonstrates a real desire to find solutions, remains limited at this stage.

For the first time, the letter from the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, for humanitarian aid.

But what was most unexpected was the announcement of the letter sent by the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of the Economy and Finance. This letter specifies that for France there will be: “No screening, including for the remittance of funds for humanitarian organisations as well as for state operators”.

Criteria are currently being defined to delimit the humanitarian space under consideration and they will give rise to a “doctrine”. But here again, the French Development Agency (FDA) does not want to compromise on the screening of beneficiaries and the favourable decision of the Senate in the framework of the development programming law (LOP-DSIM) has since been challenged by the National Assembly. The consequence for populations in crisis zones is that we will not be able to implement aid programmes with FDA in the framework of the humanitarian-development nexus, no less!

Another important letter is the circular from the Minister of Justice to prosecutors against the criminalisation of humanitarian aid in crisis zones and the specificity and respect of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Thus, to fight against impunity for attacks on humanitarian aid workers, legal proceedings would be systematically opened with a view to obtaining the highest criminal qualification.

Jean-Yves Le Drian informed us that he would raise these issues at the UN Security Council on 16 July. An identical approach will be taken in view of the French presidency of the European Union from January 2022.

To conclude, at least provisionally, we can say that if there is a clear will from the Minister and the Crisis and Support Centre, nothing is really done yet. Humanitarians and Coordination Sud still need to work together to bring about these essential measures for the implementation of humanitarian aid to access populations at risk without further hindrance. We will talk about this again next month in the next edition of Humanitarian Challenges.

Alain Boinet